Half of My Heart ✔️

60 | hot in here

As I walk into the lobby of the stadium, a few guys on the basketball team walk past me, all covered in sweat from practice. One of them is the guy I met in the elevator at the hotel: the one who told me what room Jack was staying in.

"Ayy, Little Maddox," he says, stopping in his tracks after recognizing me. "You find Jack the other night?"

"Yeah," I say, slightly embarrassed. "I did. Thank you."

He laughs. "Don't thank me. Griffin's been on another level since that night. We" —he gestures to other guys on the team— "should be thanking you."

"Well, in that case, you're welcome," I say, earning deep laughs from all of them.

They start walking toward the exit again. "Good shit, Little Maddox. Listen, take care of our boy, got it?"

I nod, giving him a mini salute. "Got it," I say before pushing the double doors into the actual stadium. I smile, leaning on a railing overlooking the court where Jack and two other guys are goofing around, playfully trash-talking one another and trying to juke each other out. I recognize the two guys from when Jack introduced me to some of his teammates on Halloween.

I'm meeting Jack here so we can leave for a date together. He hasn't told me what the date is, and I'm assuming it's probably a dinner somewhere then hanging out at his dorm, which sounds like the perfect night to me.

As excited as I am to get Jack all to myself, I stand back and observe for a few minutes, enjoying seeing Jack in his element and still enjoying basketball. It isn't long before they tire themselves out, having just endured several hours of intense practice, and start packing their stuff up.

I cup my hands around my mouth. "Hey, Number Thirteen!" That gets Jack's attention. He smiles when he sees me. "You suck!"

"That's what we keep telling him," one of the other guys says, nudging Jack. I recognize him as one of the point guards: Matthew Perez. Jack shakes his head, his mouth full of water. "See, even your girlfriend thinks you're bad," Matthew adds on, taking advantage of Jack's inability to talk back.

The third guy in their trio—Andy Cutler—laughs. "Perez, I'm pretty sure your girlfriend likes Griffin more than you."

Matthew scoffs. "Not true."

Jack finally swallows the last of his water. "It is true," he agrees. "Your mom does too. At least that's what she said the other night."

I watch this whole interaction go down, laughing at Jack's elementary 'your mom' jokes. They're all laughing too, even Perez. "Not cool," he says, solemnly shaking his head. "My mom died last year."

Jack laughs even harder. "No, she didn't."

"You're right, she didn't." Perez smiles. "But if she did, you'd feel really bad about what you just said."

Jack pretends to think for a second. "No, I don't think I would."

"Alright alright," Andy says. "Jack, enough acting all tough in front of your girlfriend. Perez, just accept that you're not as sexy as Jack. Sorry, I don't make the rules."

Perez grumbles something about his girlfriend not being into blondes as he and Andy walk off the court. Once the doors close behind them, I make my way down to the court. "Should I feel threatened by Cutler?" I ask, raising my eyebrow. "I think I saw some sparks fly between you two."

He leans down to kiss me. "Don't worry, Cutler's just my side piece." He kisses me again. "Was that the only thing that caught your attention during that conversation?"

I tilt my head, not sure what he's getting at. He smiles. "You didn't have a problem with them . . . calling you . . . a certain word . . ." His voice trails off, leading me to interpret what he's saying.